Presenting Foundering Season 6: The Killing of Bob Lee, Part 1
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Humans will never be more intelligent than AI.
There's going to be two types of companies. Those are great at AI and those that went out of business because they weren't.
How do we build a future that is human-centered? I'm Rana El-Khayoubi, and on my podcast, Pioneers of AI, we answer that question and so many more. As an AI scientist, entrepreneur, and investor, I know what it takes to build AI that works for everyone. Every week, I sit down with the pioneers shaping our future, and we take you behind the scenes of the AI that's transforming our lives. Find Pioneers of AI wherever you tune in. Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News.
Tuesday, April 4, 2023.
It's April 4, 2023. The 911 call comes in at 2.34 in the morning from near downtown San Francisco.
Sir, hello? Hello? The caller sounds stunned.
He doesn't say his name. He just keeps repeating, help, help, until he says, Somebody stabbed me. After a minute or so, the caller starts gasping for breath. The 911 operator tries to get more information out of him, without much luck. Slowly, he starts struggling for energy.
Yeah.
Until three minutes in, he goes quiet. The police arrive. Officer Drew Jackson is the first on the scene. Hey, it's the police, man. Hey, it's the police. Yeah, the police is there for you. Can you see that? This recording is from his body camera.
We're here in front of 403 Main Street. Hey, it's the police. Hey, who did this to you?
The video, I should say, is awful. You can see Officer Jackson come upon this body collapsed on the sidewalk. It's a man. He looks completely helpless. He's gone pale and is struggling to breathe.
Hey, my friend.
Officer Jackson pulls up the victim's shirt to reveal stab wounds and blood on his chest. He starts cutting off the victim's clothes.
Hey, get the med kit, please. I know, but he's not doing too hot.
A few hours later, the man would be pronounced dead of multiple stab wounds to the chest and heart.
The police don't know it yet, but the victim is Bob Lee, a successful tech executive and programmer who had a hand in creating many popular tech products. He worked at Google on the Android phone. He was CTO of Square, the payment company, and he founded Cash App, an incredibly popular tool for sending or receiving money via smartphone. He was respected and well-liked in the tech industry. His death would send shockwaves through the community.
What happened following this moment was unlike anything I've ever seen in San Francisco. It took nine days for the police to arrest a suspect. In those nine days, very little was even said about the investigation. And so rumors, fear, and misinformation rushed in to fill the void. Online speculation turned Bob Lee's death into something else, into a narrative, a story about San Francisco and its declines. At first, there were some prominent figures in tech who thought that Bob's murder was the manifestation of all that was wrong with the city, a famously progressive place that had crumbled into lawlessness, crushed by its own liberal policies. To them, Bob Lee's death became a symbol of what came to be known as the San Francisco Doom Loop.
leaders in the tech industry started calling for change. They placed the blame for Bob's death at the feet of the city's politicians. San Francisco was among the first major cities where there were calls for a return to law and order, while flaunting the actual crime statistics. But it would not be the last.
What happened on the night of Bob Lee's stabbing?
The Trump administration is also increasing the pressure on Minnesota. Thousands of immigration agents were sent to the Twin Cities.
Trump administration is deploying an additional 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles.
In his effort to deploy the National Guard to cities like Portland and Chicago.
In the years since Bob Lee's death, President Trump would deploy federal troops to several cities with Democratic leadership.
I don't like being up here talking about how unsafe and how dirty and disgusting this once beautiful capital was.
He would argue that crime was, quote, out of control and that these cities were burning down, that the streets were in crisis.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–5:15
2
What happened on the night of Bob Lee's stabbing?
5:15–14:31
3
Who was Bob Lee and why was his death significant?
14:31–17:41
4
How did the tech community react to Bob Lee's murder?
17:41–18:53
5
What misinformation spread during the investigation?
18:53–22:22
6
What were the implications of Bob Lee's death for San Francisco?
22:22–38:34
Speakers
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